I received this as a ARC and I’m grateful for getting the opportunity to read this! This writing style was definitely new for me I don’t think I read a book written in this style before. Although the story was beautiful. I wish maybe the writing style was a bit different and not completely in letter form. This may not be everyone’s cup of tea. The underwater setting and whimsical academic scenes was written beautifully and loved the Historical/Fantasy Romance that was written with these letters. If your into Fantasy, Historical, Romance, Epistolary Novel this might be your next read!

I could not get into this book at all. I really wanted to enjoy it because it sounded so interesting but I don’t enjoy epistolary writing. I would consider reading it again if I could get into that writing style. Overall I think the premise of the book was good just unfortunately had to DNF.

I really wanted to like this book but I could not get into this style of writing. I know people this book would be perfect to and I will recomend it to then but I had to DNF at 20%.

thanks to Orbit Books for the advance e-copy!

some books just absolutely hit the spot, and it’s hard to identify what exactly the magic is that makes them so enjoyable to read. this book has it!

a letter to the luminous deep by @sylviecathrall is *deeply* ambitious. it’s an epistolary fantasy book told in a totally new world, with multiple timelines, secrets, and mysteries, which is hard to pull off! to my great delight, sylvie cathrall does. the setting was so whimsical and deeply interesting- I wanted to know more about the places the characters inhabited. the character relationships were also complex and compelling- loving but complicated familial relationships, budding romances, and meaningful friendships developing through letters. there’s also some very tender and honest portrayal of neurodivergence and mental health conditions- I’m not going to prescribe diagnoses to everyone in the book, but one of the characters was meaningful to me, and I also really appreciated the thoughtful representation of OCD.

here’s the section where I talk about who would like this. I think you need to go into it expecting it to be a savored rather than quick read. it’s also one where you have to be pretty mentally “on”- the worldbuilding makes you work a little bit for it, to put together the people and places and plots. however, these aspects made the pay off of the story and the beautiful writing all the more fulfilling and satisfying. but you’ve gotta be in the right mindset to be willing to invest in this book to get that payoff. if you do, you get to enjoy a really beautiful story, world, and set of characters. I believe this is a ★★★★★ from me, because my only real complaint is that the letters from different characters should be distinguished by text formatting to make it easier to keep track, and I’m not going to ding the author for a typesetting gripe. I really think they nailed this one, and I’m so excited to read the sequel (need to know more!!)

A love letter to the sea, with a dash of sci-fi!

I was pleasantly surprised by this book, it's intriguing and engaging!

However this won't be for everyone! First by the fact that this is an epistolary novel. The writing is also very flowery and formal, like what you would expect from old letters. As such there is a small lack of difference in tone from one characters to another.

The story take shape through the exchange of letters from 4 mains characters and two different timeline. While it might sound complicated, it was quite easy to follow. The author masterfully crafted her story around those letters, managing to convey deep emotion but also an absolute sense of wonder for her world which slowly expend and reveal all of it's sci-fi elements.

I'm absolutely awed at the way the author managed to create such a vivid world in an epistolary novel!

As someone who once dreamed of becoming a marine biologist, this story rekindled my passion for the sea and it's mysteries.

The short story: I LOVED this book.

The long story: by all means, this books externally appears made for me. But I went in with tempered expectations - after reading reviews saying that its comparisons to Emily Wilde were unfounded, that it was slow and character-driven, that it ended on a cliffhanger and was too long - I didn’t want to get my hopes up. But that COVER. The premise! I just had to read it.

Friends - there are some valid points made in the critiques. But also, this book fully, and wholly WORKED for me. Instead of being bored by the long exposition and world-building, I was captivated. I was completely and utterly hooked by this mysterious underwater fantasy world, thoroughly engaged by the voices of our epistolary narrators, and so curious to see what exactly was going on here. I was over the MOON to see really nuanced, accurate OCD rep, and found this story tackling other mental health conditions and underrepresented identities in such a delicate, gentle, accurate and really normalized way. Major kudos to the author for this.

As someone who adored Emily Wilde - don’t go into this book expecting another Emily. But if you keep your expectations open, you’ll find so much to love for what this story is! It’s hard to compare to anything I’ve ever read before, which is perhaps where the Emily comps come in. It’s got flavors of that world, with hints of regency romance, or the adventure of Veronica Speedwell - but let this one stand alone. Certainly if any of those things are interesting to you, then this book will likely work well for you. But I think comparisons do it a disservice to the unique story that it is!

If you’re looking to fall headfirst into an enthralling, otherworldly duology set in a world unlike anything else you’ve ever read? THIS is the book for you. I can’t wait to get my hands on a finished copy for my forever shelves!

I’ve read and loved some novels that are entirely written as exchanged letters. It worked there. A story was told and you cared about the characters.

This one didn’t work for me. It was boring.

This book has such a beautiful cover and the plot sounded amazing; I couldn’t wait to dive in. Unfortunately, I barely made it to 10%. It’s an epistolary novel, meaning it’s comprised of written correspondence amongst characters. I have to be honest, it was very confusing. Sadly, I gave up.

I feel like maybe the academic style of speech isn't my taste, but this book was difficult for me to be excited to read without getting sleepy trying to comprehend and follow in the evenings. I felt as if there wasn't very much action in this book, and I knew that E. and Henerey died or went missing from the beginning, but I didn't have anything else to motivate me to read through the conversations other than finding out what happened to them. The sea-woman felt like a random attempt at a fantastical element, and I didn't see her tied back in very much. I was also disappointed that Tevn didn't give much of an explanation and was able to run away from what seemed to me like a sacrifice of the scholars to the sea-lady. This book could be super interesting, but this style of storytelling didn't hold my attention. I liked the artistic renderings, I wish we had more of those because the deep house sounds awesome. I feel like the ending was a rushed attempt at a cliff hanger, but I don't feel like it captured me enough to pick up the next book in the series to finish the rest of the accident story with E. and Henery. E. is a lovable character and I like the anxiety representation, but I wish we could see more growth in her esteem.

A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall, Book #1 of The Sunken Archive Series. Epistolary style (Letter format), Underwater fantasy, cozy fantasy.

I DNF at 21%, I tried to get into it but I couldn’t. I found that the characters letters all sounded in the same voice and it was hard to differentiate who was writing it.

I would suggest reading a sample chapter before starting. Maybe an audiobook narration would help add oomph to the letters?

Thank you, NetGalley and Orbit Books for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

I didn't look at the Goodreads listing for this book properly so I didn't realize it is the first in a series (or duology?) until the last page! I was expecting it to get all wrapped up nicely but now I have to wait!

This book is wonderful. I have been looking for a great epistolary novel since I read and loved the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. This story is told entirely through letters and other written communication between characters and they're all written in this lovely Victorian-style writing. It feels a bit like a Jane Austen novel but underwater and with wonderful descriptions of sea life, which makes my Marine Biologist heart sing.

The plot being entirely told through letters must be so tricky to plan out and write - what do you do when two people who have been only writing to each other meet in person? How do you capture that moment? This is incredibly difficult to do so sometimes it can feel a bit contrived. For instance, the characters end up sharing what happened with another person in a letter, they write a diary entry, or in one case, a group decides to transcribe their conversation for posterity. While reading it, you can see the author thinking "how the hell do i include this?" I thought those moments were a charming look into the writing process.

I loved the academic aspect to it and enjoyed the descriptions of the marine life. I wish the main characters were described to the same degree, as i have no idea how to picture Henerey besides "handsome" and "27". E. is similarly described only in terms of her clothing and hair, not so much her face. Their romance is unconventional and it's so refreshing to see two introverted people, one of whom suffers from agoraphobia, form a connection.

This is a wonderfully slow-paced mystery with an even slower romance. I really enjoyed the slow pace and world building and look forward to the sequel.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for access to an Advance Reader Copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. I was excited to start this book because the premise of finding mysterious letters in the deep of the ocean and figuring out what they meant was intriguing. However, the entire book is reading a series of letters going back and forth, and it was very difficult to keep track of who was who and why they were writing to each other. I did not finish this book after reading about 10%. The format of the book is reading letters the characters write to each other. There is no dialogue, the setting was difficult to picture, and after not really understanding what was going on in the book after reading as far as I did, I decided it was not for me. I think if there had been dialogue or periods of narrative between the letters, I would've enjoyed this. If the letters had been only between two people, then it would've been easier to follow. Unfortunately, this book is for someone who likes reading the unique format of character correspondence in letters. Best of luck to the author with this interesting take on a novel! I will not be leaving a review on Goodreads or my blog as I did not finish the book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

4.25/5 stars

This was just so, so beautifully written I am truly not sure how to review it. It was unlike anything I've ever read before, but the whimsy and beauty and romance felt closest to Ten Thousand Doors of January or A Short Walk Through a Wide World - where the focus is the magic in every day and is very character led, but it's also not quite like our own reality....hard to explain but just absolutely lovely.

I also just adored the epistolary formatting - discovering these stories through notes and letters, mostly through 2 sets of partners a year apart. On the one hand we have E. and Henerey, odd ducks that find common ground and who's unlikely correspondence blossoms into a beautiful relationship that shocks themselves and their family. And on the other you have Sophy and Vyerin, the former's siblings a year later attempting to piece together what happened to their brother and sister by reading their letters and developing a genuine friendship shaped by mutual grief. It's just....it's unique, captivating, and full of magic and whimsy. It explores trauma and grief, loss and longing...and it tackles severe anxiety in a way that is informative but not clinical and somehow beautiful at the same time. It's truly a triumph of literature.

I do not think this book will be for everyone - it's slow pacing and very character focused. But it's beautiful (I know I've said that repeatedly, it just really is!) and wonderful and makes it so easy to get lost while reading. I cannot wait for the sequel!

I really enjoyed this book! I rated it 4.5 stars. I haven't read too many epistolary novels, but I think the style is really fun and interesting, and I'll definitely be reading more. This book was very slow moving in my opinion (it felt very calm), so I can definitely see how it wouldn't be for everyone, but it was for me! The characters were all very likable, and I really enjoyed the different perspectives that a story told through letters could give. I thought the dual plot line was interesting, and I loved seeing all of the separate relationships within the story. Overall, I would really recommend this book!

Thank you to Netgalley, Orbit Books, and the author for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.

if you like
- academia
- underwater worlds
- pen pals to lovers / epistolary romance
- sisterly bonds
- cosy fantasy
- SLOW burns

then this book is probably for you!


but it wasn’t for me.. i dnfed this at about 20% the book is lovely and the characters are likeable it’s just that the writing feels incredibly formal and it just moved sooooooo slow and it took so much effort to get to the point i did get to i just couldn’t suffer any more

i would like to note this is also my first full length novel epistolary romance so take this all with a grain of salt.

if you like epistolary romances i think you will LOVE this

I really enjoyed this world the characters lived in. I kept imagining myself living there and wondering what it would be like. I loved each character.. This was a delightful book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

TLDR: Neurodivergent characters, cute love story, beautiful imagery and setting. 5/5.

This was a book I read slowly, at first, savoring every letter, every description. Then, at about the 60% point, I finished it in one sitting.

Things I liked:
An OCD and highly anxious character dealing with that in a very realistic and not "look at how quirky I am" way. (Two of them!)

A romance you can literally watch bloom.

A steampunk-esque alternate world which exists on ships and man made islands and underwater.

A mystery that you can start piecing together with the characters.

LGBT+ relationships.

Things I didn't like:
I enjoyed the slow start, though at times it was almost too slow.

It might have been the e-arc I read, but I desperately wanted more. Several were mentioned, but ultimately only about three actually appeared.

And of course we ended with a cliffhanger for book 2!

5/5 for a wondrous story, and I cannot wait for the sequel.

Well, this one was not for me. I was so curious about this book when I first heard of it. It's sounded so intriguing. Unfortunately, this just wasn't for me.
I'll be honest, I don't reminder the last time I read an epistolary novel, and I don't know when I'll read one next. I really struggled with feeling engaged with the story, because a think of the format. The letters made it hard to really get the story, and it felt hard to differentiate the different voices of the letters' writers.
One of the things that I also struggled with because of the format is that it is a lot of 'telling', which does made it harder for me to really get into the story.
Still, I think that this book simply wasn't for me. I think that if you enjoy the format of the letters, you could potentially love this novel. To me, that could be the biggest factor in whether of not you enjoy this novel, as it is definitely a style that is not for everyone.

Thank you Sylvie Cathrall, Orbit Books, and NetGalley for this free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was immediately drawn in by the gorgeous cover. I'll admit, I definitely judge books by their covers, and this one is a 5/5. Unfortunately, the contents of the book didn't match for me personally.

The description on NetGalley stated that this is "a charming fantasy set in an underwater world with magical academia and a heartwarming penpal romance, perfect for fans of A Marvellous Light, Emily Wilde's Encylopaedia of Faeries and The House in the Cerulean Sea." Sounds amazing, right?

The book is written as a series of letters, which had so much potential. In theory, the letters could make the book a very fast paced read and allow readers to really get to know the characters well. In actuality, this was probably the slowest paced book I have ever read, and all of the characters sounded the exact same. This book was not at all for me, and I unfortunately had to DNF. I hit a point where I just couldn't get myself to pick it back up. After weeks went by of not being able to get myself to read more than a paragraph or so at a time, I decided to give up. The story is told through four characters' letters to each other. The letters are written in a very formal way, even to siblings. Every letter, no matter who it was from, sounded the same. None of the visual descriptions made any sense to me. I picture books in my head as a read, and I struggled so much trying to picture what was being discussed. I say "what was being discussed" rather than what was happening because nothing was happening. There wasn't much of a plot.

While I didn't personally enjoy reading this book, there is an audience for it. If you like a unique book that is written in a different style, creates a world very unlike our own, and experiments with its execution, you may like this book. I prefer fast-paced, plot driven books. This book is not that. If you like slower reads where you can take your time and immerse yourself, you may like this book. If you want to get in the minds of academic-minded characters who speak very academically, you may like this book.

Thank you NetGalley, Orbit Books, and Sylvie Cathrall for an Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I have to start off by saying how poetically beautiful the writing for this book was. The epistolary writing style was the first book written like this that I’ve read, but will absolutely not be my last.

Right as the story began, I was hooked. I did not expect the two main characters to have been presumed dead (we learn this on like page 5) but it just made the love story we were watching post-humosuly even more tragically beautiful.

The FMC, “E.” was fabulously well-written and developed. She battled with a form of OCD in the book, and reading her struggles, and seeing how it effected her day to day life, spoke to me on so many levels. So many times during this book I wanted to jump through the page and just give E. a big hug!

I truly enjoyed this beautiful story, and I thought it was incredible for a debut book. There was a point midway through the book that I did feel it took an academic turn, and strayed a bit from the romance/plot/intrigue of the story, but overall I truly enjoyed! I’m grateful I had the opportunity to read it and absolutely will be on the lookout for book 2!